Seeing the woman before him, Drac didnt know what to think. This woman was clearly powerful. And she was giving the same vibes as the one that the inquisitors killed. Were they related, he didnt know. But what he did know was that he had the red ring in his pocket, and his room was the satchel bag of the albino woman. If this woman was who he think it is, he was fucked.

Acting as a butler, he took a step forward and bowed to the woman, “Welcome to the Sumor Castle, miss,”

The woman’s dark red eyes fluttered, and stared at him, “Who are you?” she asked in a calm and collected voice.

“My name is Drac miss. I am the butler responsible for the castle,” he said, “How may I assist you, this fine morning,”

He saw that her cold face morphed into that of irritation, “Where is Travis?”

Wait, she knows the old man? Who is she? He thought. He then cleared his throat, “Sir Travis would be visiting the castle in a few days. Is there anything that I can assist you with?”

She sighed, “Fine..” She then pointed her long naily fingers at the carriages, “Take my luggage and carefully take them in. My luggage contains alchemic equipment, make sure you do not damage any of it,”

He nodded and was about to ask her who she was, when she further continued, “Send a letter to my father, Gregor Sumor. Tell her that Mikaila has returned,”

Now that left him speechless, Wait, this woman is Mikaila, the youngest of Gregor’s daughters? Didnt she go away far…. somewhere? Now he was regretting not listening to the gossip of the Sumor Family, The white hair and red eyes… Are they like fashion statements in this world,

His train of thought broke when the woman started walking into the castle. He quickly followed behind her, “Mistress, I hate to be the bearer of the bad news, but your castle is still under renovation process.” This made her stop, so he added further, “There is a master bedroom ready for occupancy. But the place for your botanic garden and the lab are still not done,”

She started walking again, “Dosent matter,” she said, “I am tired now. I will be resting in the master bedroom for the time being. Do not disturb me, no matter what happens. And, make sure that my equipment is kept with care. One mistake, and I will flay you and your family,”

“Understood mistress,” he said, and then turned towards the soldiers who had been following him.

“Call three guys, we have some work to do,” the soldiers nodded and Drac got to work…

Drac had seen the tantrums of Kaila, while he was at the Sumor Keep. He knew that woman was kind of a girl which people of Earth referred to as Rich Spoiled Brats. She is the kind of a woman with a lot of potential, but she was so busy in her own little world that she never worked on herself. And from what he heard, the same was the case with Mikaila.

He knew that Mikaila had a Mana Heart, which meant that she was a Mage. But she was a carbon copy of her big sister, and as Gregor had already lost one daughter, he didnt want to lose another one. So he sent her somewhere, a place where Mikaila could learn about her abilities better. He asked Travis about the matter once, and in the words of the old man, Alanor Kingdom has a lot of warriors and knights. But no competent Mages. Which made sense as to why Gregor sent her away.

But now she had returned, Drac was having a hard time understanding what the woman was here to do. Is there really a connection between the albino woman and her, was he tripping?

And it was not like, that he could just ask her, whether she was here for the Rose. But what he could do, is make sure that the Rose in the abandoned area of the castle stays hidden. And for that, he needs to have a solid plan.

That whole day of Drac went by in the blink of an eye, because of which he was not able to think straight even for a second. With the mistress of the castle here, things needed to be done to make sure her accommodation remained comfortable. As butlers, he and Henry got to work swiftly.

They ordered some meat to be bought, cleaned up the toilets, made sure the dining table had the spread of finest cutlery, made sure that the cutlery was well polished, etc. Chores like accommodating her luggage also took precedence, as they were all very heavy bags. Although, Drac had become somewhat powerful with mana and stuff, but with that, he had some trouble lifting some stuff. He estimated that those trunks and boxes were at least 60-70kg heavy.

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The only good thing that happened that day was, that Mistress didnt come out of her room, that whole day. Henry had made sure that either his wife or his daughter was stationed outside the mistress’s room. But the woman never came out, nor did she make a sound while she was in her room.

It is the next morning, the woman finally opened the doors of her room. And Drac was summoned…

As he entered the room of the woman, he felt something amiss there. There was a chill in the room as if it was cooled by an air conditioner. The woman was sitting on a chair in her bra and a long skirt, looking outside of the window, with her back towards him.

He came and bowed to her, “Mistress,” he said, “Your orders,”

“Tell me about the castle,” she said, “What needs to be done? How much time would you need, and how much would it cost to do everything in a month,”

“A month?” he said with astonishment, “Mistress, that would be a tad bit difficult. It is not like the work itself is a lot, with the right kind of payment and force we would be able to get people to almost everything in 3 to 4 weeks. But the main problem lies in the transportation of goods. Ordering goods and the freight itself will take at least 2 weeks,”

The woman abruptly got up and threw the chair she was aside, breaking the wooden thing. “Are you trying to say to me, that I need to stay in this dump for a month or so, just because of your incompetence? According to my father’s letter, the work should have started about 2 weeks ago, what the fuck have you been doing all these days?”

With his head down, he simply answered, “The plans about the renovation had been sent around 2 and half weeks ago mistress. But they not been approved by Lord Daniel yet,”

The truth was, Travis, was supposed to give the green signal to the plans, but he figured using Lord Daniel's name would not warrant a lot of wraith. It was a spur-of-a-moment decision, and boy it was wrong.

Drac felt it, the air itself started vibrating. He saw the mana in the air, reacting to the woman’s anger. With greater control over mana, and with greater sensitivity he could sense that the mana was trying to tell him about her anger. This feeling.. It is similar to the time when that Sumor soldier fired the arrow at me… Does Mana have this property? It could warn its users about the threats like this one.

He had his head down, as a symbol of defeat. He peeked at the woman, he wanted to see for himself how the mana was telling him about the danger. But he lifted his head, he something peculiar. Mikaila had clenched her fists and closed her eyes, she was trying to control her anger it seemed. The peculiar part was the black mist, behind him.

Through the glass window, he was able to see some of his reflection. Behind him was something akin to a dark concentrated black mist. The mist was shaped like a human and contained the same red eyes as the woman. He stared at the mist for a few seconds, trying to see whether his eyes were playing tricks on him. But the mist didnt go away.

But then, he felt that the red eyes of the mist made eye contact with him through the reflection. And the mist vanished like a fart in the air.

He heard a deep breath and looked at his mistress. She slowly opened her eyes and stared at him, “Go to the capital. Find every piece of furniture. Everything that you need, and get it to the castle. I dont care how much money it takes, I will be giving money, so no need for Daniel’s approval. Do you understand?” He nodded, “Within a month, I need this castle working at full capacity, along with the botanical garden and my alchemy workshop that you mentioned. Can you do it, or do I need to get someone more competent to come work for me,”

“It will be done,” he said.

“Fuck off then,” Quickly he exited the room.

***

Henry was a little pissed that he was called to the Mistress’s room, and not him. That man had been trying to suck up to the woman, ever since she stepped in the castle. But the woman was not reciprocating.

Drac used the urgency to hand over the task of shopping from the capital to Henry. He instructed the man that the money was not the problem, and as soon as he could, he had to get the things listed transported to the castle. Hearing about the urgency, Henry left as soon as he could, leaving even his wife and daughter behind.

This left Drac with some time to make some plans. He sat down in his room that night, and really started planning the whole renovation thing. Mikaila was not coming out of her room, which was a good thing for him as she wouldn't be able to see the Rose in the destroyed part of the castle. Which meant, he had some time to hide the Rose.

He set his plans in motion from the next day onwards. He took some of the soldiers and started applying black sealant on the destroyed ballroom. Greg, who oversaw the project while he handled the things in the castle, questioned him, “Why are you making the soldiers seal this floor? The tiles look good to be used, they would need polish and voila.. This place would start to shine. Is it really necessary to use a black sealant here?”

He simply nodded his head, “This place is going to a botanical garden. We cannot let water either sip through the floor or let any weed or fungi grow in this place, which could potentially hamper the growth of magical herbs. Which is why, it is important to seal everything,”

Greg didnt question him further, he must have figured that this was something that he got to know from the books that he used to constantly read in the Keep. Little did he know that he was just bluffing…